Social Justice Tours runs solely on donations—no one is turned away for lack of funds. Please consider making a donation to help keep us running (or walking).

Social Justice Tours uses tours as a medium to dig beneath the surface of what New Yorkers regularly see. We aim to engage New Yorkers in a critical dialogue about the past, present and future of our city, from the perspective of marginalized populations. The ultimate aim is to assist in movement building; that is to disperse information, expose injustice, and highlight inequality in a digestible, understandable way to encourage thought and inspire action.

Dan Kaminsky

Dan was born, raised, and still lives in Brooklyn, New York. From Palestine to Chiapas Mexico, labor organizing to the environmental movement, he's been involved in organizing efforts of one kind or another throughout most of his adult life. Dan started giving tours as a day job to help get through school and pay rent. He began to dream up a project to run tours about the issues he cared deeply about, and thus began to study. The more Dan studied the more he began to look at the city in new ways; seeing things he hadn't seen before, and understanding processes and trends in a new light. The more he learned, the less he realized he knew, and the more shocked he became at the stories he learned. Dan hopes to share this information and passion with all of you.

Michael Higgins Jr.

Michael is a member turned organizer at FUREE. He first joined the Accountable Development campaign, before engaging more deeply in work around public housing. He is now lead organizer within FUREE, teaching and building leadership with members around environmental justice, civic participation and further inclusion of public housing in the greater housing justice movement in New York City. Michael’s interests include language learning, history and political economy as well as organizing on housing issues and city governance over areas such as education and transportation.

Trump Tour

Within the midtown area we are able to get the full spectrum of the trump story and his rise to power. The tour will focus on three main things. The first is looking into the man himself and his history. He is well connected with organized crime, illicit activity and corrupt dealings, and looking into his history in New York gives us a window into that. The second is how he, as a symbol for real estate at large, has massively changed New York’s built environment to cater to a billionaire class at the expense of working New Yorkers. The third, potentially most important, is looking at the systemic nature of trump’s rise in New York. What trump has done is about a lot more than the single individual, and by looking at the agencies, actors and government institutions that have supported his rise, we can come away with a larger societal understanding of justice in our country.

People’s History of Lower Manhattan

Lower Manhattan is the foundation of western society in New York. Yet, the vast majority of New York history is non western. We start the tour with an overview of Indigenous history in NYC. We then move on to walk through slave history of New York, checking out a former slave market, the burial ground, and a stop on the underground railroad. We then move on to discuss wall street corruption, with a particular emphasis on what happened in the 2008 financial crisis.

Gentrification in Williamsburg

This two hour long tour of Williamsburg highlights two main themes: Gentrification and Environmental Justice. Williamsburg offers an extreme example of both of these broader themes, and thus makes a very interesting case-study neighborhood in which to delve into these issues. The roots of gentrification and the detailed history of the cause of such rapid change will be covered in depth. This tour gives participants detailed information that will enable them to understand the topic of gentrification, why it is happening, its history, who benefits, and what is driving it. The same is true of the backstory of the environmental justice movement in the area.

Gowanus Environmental Justice Tour

Gowanus is an intensely contaminated community that is simultaneously undergoing multiple processes of environmental remediation and gentrification. The tour will explore these dynamics and the challenges and opportunities posed by the Gowanus Canal Superfund Clean Up, the rapid disappearance of commercial establishments and services that are affordable to low and moderate-income households and the recently announced housing authority plan to build market-rate apartments at Wyckoff Gardens. You will also learn about the Turning the Tide initiative, a multi-neighborhood effort that focuses on building social and environmental resiliency in five Brooklyn public housing developments in the face of climate change.

Private Tours

Are you a school group, church group, community organization, etc. interested in taking a private tour? We would be happy to setup a date and time that works for your specific group. Contact us at socialjusticetours@gmail.com and we'll get back to you with rates, dates, times, and any other information you may need.

CONTACT

Have questions? Ideas? Interested in booking a private tour? Get in touch!